Welcome to Survival of the Fittest, a RPing board loosely based off of Koshun Takami's Battle Royale, with its own unique plot and spin on the 'deadly game'. We've been around quite a while, and are now in our thirteenth year, so don't worry about us going anywhere any time soon!

If you're a newcomer and interested in joining, then please make sure you check out the rules. You may also want to read the FAQ, introduce yourself and stop by the chat to meet some of our members. If you're still not quite sure where to start, then we have a great New Member's Guide with a lot of useful information about getting going. Don't hesitate to PM a member of staff (they have purple usernames) if you have any questions about SOTF and how to get started!

She hadn’t had a particular problem with the public pool, and had been a little sceptical of this venture. Georgia Lee didn’t mind the crowds, as long as they stayed out of the lap lane, and she liked being able to tell how far she’d swum. The chemicals in the pool, she suspected, were there for a reason, and Georgia Lee was somewhat apprehensive of the various bacteria and biting fishes that might be living out here in an unchlorinated lake.

Still, she couldn’t deny it beautiful here, and she had earned a break. The last few days had been trying, to say the least. Confrontations with her peers seemed to be mounting around her, and she’d thrown herself into her study and her exercise to take her mind off of it, pushing herself harder and harder.

She’d complained to Abby that the lake would be useless for real swimming, that the buoyancy and the turbulence would be completely difference, and as training it would be meaningless. In truth though, she didn’t mind this.

In many ways, Georgia Lee knew, mental health was just as important as physical health. Maybe moreso, even. Certainly it was unwise not to take care of it.

Georgia Lee didn’t believe in therapy, and she didn’t believe in medication. She couldn’t see why talking to some stranger would give her any sort of insight or assistance that she couldn’t provide herself, and taking some drug to make yourself feel better seemed to her like the last refuge for people who didn’t have the strength to be better.

What Georgia Lee did believe in was behaviourism. She believed in reward to reinforce good behaviours, and she believed in punishment to discourage bad ones. When she slacked off or slipped up, Georgia Lee would go the extra mile with her exercise and study, as a form of penance. On the other hand, when she kept to her schedule and met her goals, Georgia Lee would treat herself.

This, today, was that treat.

She spread her towel out and sat down on it to remove her shoes. The sun was shining off of the surface of the lake.

Georgia Lee pulled off her T-shirt and wriggled out of her short, revealing her swimming costume underneath. She'd planned to lie out for a few minutes before jumping in, maybe get some of her book read, but she had to admit the water looked tempting.

It would be cold of course, she knew that, but the cold didn't bother Georgia Lee all that much. When she was younger, she'd sometimes go to school in much the same clothes as she was wearing today, during the winter, just to prove to herself she could do it. She hadn't done that in years of course, that was an easy way to make oneself sick, but she doubted the lake would be anything she couldn't take. Not if Abby could tolerate it.

There were many words to describe Abby Floyd and almost all of them were positive, yet "hardy" was not among there number. Anything lower than lukewarm would have sent her friend screaming back to the shore, Georgia Lee knew.

She caught Abby's eyes on her, and gave the girl a smile.

"Just hold your horses while I get sunblock on, okay? Not all of us turn 'golden brown'."